Chain of Iron Rant Review

AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare

SYNOPSIS: Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend Lucie Herondale and James’s charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s blade.

But the truth is far grimmer. James and Cordelia’s marriage is a lie, arranged to save Cordelia’s reputation. James is in love with the mysterious Grace Blackthorn whose brother, Jesse, died years ago in a terrible accident. Cortana burns Cordelia’s hand when she touches it, while her father has grown bitter and angry. And a serial murderer is targeting the Shadowhunters of London, killing under cover of darkness, then vanishing without a trace.

Together with the Merry Thieves, Cordelia, James, and Lucie must follow the trail of the knife-wielding killer through the city’s most dangerous streets. All the while, each is keeping a shocking secret: Lucie, that she plans to raise Jesse from the dead; Cordelia, that she has sworn a dangerous oath of loyalty to a mysterious power; and James, that he is being drawn further each night into the dark web of his grandfather, the arch-demon Belial. And that he himself may be the killer they seek.

I finished this book the day I got it in like a single sitting, spending 3-4 hours on it, and I want the next book already. Cassandra Clare knows how to end a book and destroy my mental peace for the next year till Chain of Thorns come. Chain of Iron is the second book in The Last Hour trilogy, which is part of the Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare. The book will be followed by Chain of Thorns which will be published next March. 

I liked Chain of Gold a lot, but Chain of Iron is 50 levels higher than Chain of Gold. We get so many James and Cordelia development, including their beautiful wedding. There are significant events taking place in Lucie and Jesse's life as well, and this book is filled with so many emotions, and I feel like giving out a warning to the people who haven't read this book that they should wait for another year. The only thing that gives me peace is knowing that Jordelia will end up together ( as the family tree says) and that they would probably have a "Cave Scene" because Herondales and Caves have a special relationship, as we got to know in The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments (It's always the last book!) The ending is such a heart-jerker, and If Cassandra does anything to spoil the Matthew-James-Cordelia friendship/love thing, I will go crazy. 

I cannot do a Review for Chain of Iron like an average person without giving away spoilers; hence, this is a Rant Review. I will be basically ranting about Chain of Iron and the events taking place, including many spoilers. So if you haven't read the book, I might suggest not reading further if you don't like to be spoiled. 

Back to my rant, let's talk about one thing in the entire series that crushes my heart into million pieces. James and Cordelia. Where should I begin even with them? Reading Chain of Gold, I felt so sad because I, as a big romantic at heart, hated the Unrequited love that Cordelia had for James, but again the Family tree gave a lot of reassurance. But James loved Grace, who I harbor very mixed feelings and will talk later about, and Grace is a woman bred to be in politics, and James Herondale had less power. As much as the Chain of Gold made me sad about Jordelia, Chain of Iron completely broke me. James wanted to remove the bracelet that Grace gave him during his wedding with Cordelia but couldn't because it was CHARMED. In the entire book, we see how James forgot his moments with Cordelia from when he was a kid, and he had this striking headache. A fog clouded his mind when he overthought about his relationship with Cordelia. 

James fell in love with Cordelia when he was a kid, and she helped with Scalding Fever and read him stories. I just realized that in The Vampire Diaries, when Elena wants to erase Damon's memory, Alaric compels her to forget the part where she fell in love with Damon. Similarly, when Grace gave James the charmed bracelet, he forgets about how Cordelia took care of him, which is also mentioned in the book when Cordelia asks her if he remembers the stories she read. Why did you do this to me, Cassie?!

After the battle with Belial, which I will get into later, James breaks his bracelet because Cordelia centered him when nothing else worked, and he loved her so much. Cassie had to kill me because James and Cordelia are having a moment, and Grace interrupts, and James confronts her. At the same time, Cordelia sees who is at the door and leaves to go to Matthew, and then they both go to Paris, while Will stopped James to search for Lucy (I can never hate Will Herondale, but he just had to prevent James from going after Cordelia!) 

My Jordelia heart will only be at peace next march, so till then, I have to fangirl about Lucie and Jesse. Lucie and Jesse are just so perfect. Jesse and Lucie danced at might together, and that scene was forever memorable. Jesse Blackthorn is the host body that Belial uses since he can't use James. Tatiana Blackthorn, who I hate almost with cell of my body, offered Jesse's body! Lucie tries to bring back Jesse to life since she has clearly fallen in love with Jesse and vice-versa. In the end, she does get him back, and Jesse is even my favorite character from the Last Hour series ( Sorry, James!) I almost fell out of my bed since I was so busy reading the scene on how she got him back to life with Ragnor Fell. Now Lucie and Jesse are away from the rest of the shadowhunter family, and hence Will Herondale stopped James and went in search of Lucie.

One thing that I particularly did not like about this book is how Lucie and Cordelia are meant to be Parabatais closer than any other bond, but in the entire book, they did not tell each other anything. Cordelia had marriage problems, of course, and she also had other issues with Cortana and how she made a deal with Lilith for it, and as for Lucie, she had problems with Jesse and Grace. But still, they should have trusted each other. 

Let's talk about two people I hate the most in this series Tatiana Blackthorn and Grace Catwright or Blackthorn. We all knew Tatiana was a crazy psycho when we read The Infernal Devices. Chain of Iron just elucidates the point further. Tatiana went literally crazy to bring back his son ( it was also kind of Tatiana's fault only that he died)  that she ruined a girl's life. I can imagine Grace being nice if she went to the academy or being part of Cordelia and Lucie's group, but Tatiana ruined her.

 I understand where Grace got her bad personality because her adoptive mom, who she grew up with, told her that love is a weapon and all the guys would be in love with her, and James wasn't, so she got him the bracelet which charmed James into thinking he loved Grace. I understand how none of it was her fault because she was a kid under a bad influence when she did all that. But I hate her so much. I don't even hate Belial as much as I hate Grace Blackthorn and Tatiana Blackthorn. She ruined 4 people's life. She ruined James entire childhood, and he was the first one affected. Like he had a fog around his mind for somewhat a decade of his life. She ruined Cordelia's life because of apparent reasons. She ruined Matthew's life because he loves Cordelia, and She loves James and James was an idiot because of the bracelet. She also ruined Charle's life. I don't particularly like him either, so for him, I kind of don't care. Grace deserves to die (I know many people love her but this is my opinion), but she won't because somehow she is married to Thomas. I might get why, but again, all sense of reasoning in me is lost when she stood between a happy Jordelia.  

Tatiana helps Belial in return for her son to be alive again, and Belial wants James to become his host. James refuses him multiple times and fight with him too. Lilith also plays a crucial role in the series and tricks Cordelia into thinking that swearing an oath to her so that she can hold Cortana. James has been dreaming about murders from the eyes of the murderer. Only after Elias Carstairs's death does the Merry Thieves do something about it, leading to them going to the shadow market. 

Magnus Bane and Brother Zacharia are not in London as they handle the Black Volume of Dead ( The third book in the Eldest Curse series is based on this and will be released sometime in September or October.) But Lilith turns into Magnus Bane and goes to James and Cordelia, and sends James to Belial. She wanted to destroy Belial (Jesse too since he was the host), but Lucie figures things in time and commands Jesse to come out of there since she can command the ghosts.

So, in the end, Belial is not destroyed, Lilith escaped, Cordelia and Matthew are in Paris, James and Will are busy finding Lucie, who brought Jesse back to life. This book was such a rollercoaster, and now I am left with an unsettled mind for another year. I would definitely re-read this book multiple times this year and get myself upset every time till we get the  Chain of Thorns.